House Republican leaders did give Obama credit for including something known as “chained CPI” in the spending plan, which would slow the rate of growth for Social Security benefits. They were on message in calling for Obama to help them enact policies they agree on, without coming to terms on a large-scale deficit busting package.

“He does deserve some credit for some incremental entitlement reforms he has outlined in his budget. I would hope that he would not hold hostage these modest reforms for his demand for bigger tax hikes. Why don’t we do what we agree to do? Why don’t [we] find the common ground that we do have and move on that?,” Boehner asked, while accusing Obama of “backtracking” on other entitlement reforms the two had discussed in negotiations last year.

“I’m hopeful in the coming weeks, we will have an opportunity through the budget process to come to some agreement.”

Added House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.): “Finally the president has offered his budget to the American people. And what we see inside the document is more of the same: more spending, higher taxes, more debt.”

“The speaker talked about the fact there are some things besides the tax increases that frankly we can find some agreement on,” he said. “I share the sentiment that if we ought to see if we can set aside the divisiveness and come together to produce some results for the people who sent us here.

If the president believes, as we do, that programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are on the path to bankruptcy and we can actually do some things to put them on the right course and save them, to protect the beneficiaries of these programs we ought to do so. We ought to do so without holding them hostage for more tax hikes.”

On a conference call with reporters in the afternoon, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) called the budget “worse than the status quo,” but believed there was a silver lining.

“A positive way of looking at this is at least everybody has put a plan on the table. At least the Senate has put it’s plan on the table, the president’s plan is on the table, so we can have a healthy budget debate,” he said. “My goal is to find common ground to where we can get a down payment on this problem.”

He also identified the president’s willingness to means test pieces of Medicare as a “small instance of common ground.”

“That gives me a glimmer of hope that we can get an agreement at the end of the day but we’re a long way from there right now,” he said.

The House and Senate both passed 2014 spending plans before the House recessed for Easter break. But they would have to reconcile them to take effect.

Feelings were much the same on the Senate side, where Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said:

McConnell explained that he hopes the spending plan won’t undo the process that has already taken place, pointing out that the House and Senate have already passed their own budgets for next year.

“After all, the document headed our way does not appear designed to bridge the differences between the House and Senate passed budgets,” he added. “That’s the role Americans would expect the president to play at this stage.”

Republicans criticized the budget for promoting the same policies that they say kept the economy from recovering more robustly.

“America cannot afford this compromise,” said Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) said. “We need innovative, pro-growth tax reforms that encourage investment and private-sector growth. And still the president is offering more of the same.”

”This proposal goes to extraordinary lengths to shield the federal bureaucracy from any reform, even as millions of Americans are trapped in failed government programs,” Sessions said in a statement. “It grows the government at the expense of the economy. It enriches the bureaucracy at the expense of the people. And it threatens to permanently depress the American economy under a never-ending avalanche of debt.”

Republicans routinely dinged the president for proposing more tax increases in his budget.

“Look, the president’s budget is exactly what you’d expect: It’s tax increases, statements about sticking it to the wealthy and new spending,” Rep. Darryl Issa (R-Calif.) said. “He still doesn’t get it.”

There was some praise from Republicans about the inclusion of “chained CPI,” a provision that would reduce Social Security benefits in the long run. Obama offered the language as an olive branch to Republicans in hopes it would help kick off a large-scale deficit deal and is dining with a group of Senate GOPers at the White House this evening.

McConnell said the budget had an “asterisk,” and praised the inclusion of entitlement changes.

“I’m glad to see him begin to come to grips with the math here,” McConnell said.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) made a point to praise the president for the entitlement reform proposal but said it needs to go farther.

“Encourage the president to take it to the next level to truly address these problems,” Portman said. “We need to come up with something that makes sense for the American people.”

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) also praised the budget for including entitlement changes.

“The fact that it’s out there I think is important,” King said. “It’s not a budget I would ever vote for but it could be the start of a process.”

Democrats continued to be unhappy about the inclusion of chained CPI in the president’s budget.

“It was a bad idea then and it is a bad idea now,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said. “We should not be negotiating with those who want to take Social Security benefits hostage and seniors shouldn’t be a bargaining chip. It’s time that the Republicans agree to raise revenues that put people back to work in good-paying jobs without demanding cuts to Medicare and Social Security in exchange.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) blasted the inclusion of chained CPI, saying that Social Security hasn’t contributed to the deficit and shouldn’t be included in deficit talks.

“While I commend the president for including some smart provisions in his budget like investments in infrastructure and the Buffett Rule for tax fairness, I cannot support a proposal that would force seniors to pay for deficits Social Security had no part in creating,” Whitehouse said in a statement.

Inclusion of chained CPI wasn’t enough for every Republican.

“The old theory that if no sides like it, it’s a good budget does not apply here,” Issa said. “Imagine that you are going down a road and ahead of you is a lake. There’s a road to the right and a road to the left. Compromise is not taking neither the left or the right because you will end up in the lake.”